Chipawo goes to Uganda

The event, held under the theme “My Strength, My Culture and My Identity”, showcased different cultural backgrounds through music and dance.
The exchange programme was organised by the Montessori Children’s Academy in reciprocation of a visit by the Ugandans to Zimbabwe last year.

According to the organisers, the main objective was to strengthen the children’s relationship based on culture and sharing appreciation of each other’s countries among others.
It was indeed a fruitful trip for the Zimbabwean children as they learnt a lot about Uganda, its culture, food and lifestyle. The team visited places like the King’s Palace and the King’s Lake.

Some of the tourists attractions visited included  the Ndere Cultural Centre,  named in honour of the flute, known as ‘ndere’. The centre promotes traditional Ugandan culture and knowledge sharing.

Speaking of the entertainment, the major highlights was the Chipawo versus Chi-Uganda were the children put up scintillating performances at Titate Primary, Uganda’s oldest school,  and at Silver Spoon Primary School.

The team later stole the show at a local hotel in front of hundreds of people.
Some of the major challenges faced by the team while in Uganda were language and the food on offer.

We also notice that cultural education was not properly practised in Uganda and the exchange programme was a wake-up call to many who witnessed the children’s performance.

Apart from performances the children from Chipawo had a chance to learn different dances from Uganda like Baksima, Ding Ding, songs and the language spoken in Uganda.
They also had a taste of Uganda’s traditional food of eating peanut butter, matoke (made from steamed banana), chapati, millet porridge and lots of fruits in Uganda.

Patience Manyangadze from Chipawo said the tour will go a long way in helping her understanding of other African cultures.
Patience was happy to board the plane for the first and shared her personal experience on the tour.

“It was my first time and I was very happy being a participant at the festival. We enjoyed our time but the food wasn’t my favourite because to me it didn’t taste good.”
Another participant, Rudo Dube, said Uganda is lovely, and making friends was the best thing she did.

“We shared our cultural background and telling each other stories about our families.
“I am happy that Zimbabwe is rich with culture,” she said.

Chipawo has toured Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Poland and India under such cultural programmes.
However, the tour was made possible by Culture Fund of Zimbabwe, Mayor of Harare Muchadeyi Masumda, eye specialist Dr Solomon Guramatunhu, parents and other individuals who are assisted in raising the air tickets for the children.